My first pressure cooker attempt

By Gaby -
I made split pea soup last night for the first time with the pressure cooker.  Wow.  That thing is amazing.  I was a little timid at first about opening the lid, so I let it sit there longer than needed.  I finally got the nerve to handle the pressure release valve slowly and I was amazed at how creamy and 'done' the soup was after only a couple of minutes.  The only other way I'd be able to get that kind of texture with a bean or lentil soup is if I put it in the food processor, which I always try to avoid doing.

Maybe one of these days, I'll do a house wide search for my camera's battery charger so I can start putting some darned pictures on here.

Here's the recipe for Split Pea and Ham Soup for the pressure cooker:

Pressure Cooker Split Pea and Ham Soup
1 pound split peas
3 cups diced ham
bone from ham or smoked ham hock (optional)
3 carrots, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried parsley)
2 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt)
freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 quarts water

Rinse peas and drain. Pick out anything that's "not-pea" :-)
Place all ingredients into pressure cooker, set on high for 4 minutes. When cooking is done, leave the pressure cooker to sit for an additional 15-20 minutes to let pressure and steam escape.

Only a few students today, so I'm going to see if my violin is all ready to be picked up beforehand.  I'm desperately trying to complete all the laundry today so I'm not scurrying around late Thursday evening or Fri. morning before we leave for our trip. Wish I could bring my furry friends with us, but they're not allowed at the hotel we're staying at, so a friend is going to watch them this weekend.

Is it silly for me to wish that I could be a a stay-at-home "mom" to my two dogs?

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